My Name is Peaches, and I'm a Whiskey Puking Alchy (possible triggers)
So, I'm starting this thread for my growth path. . . but, I am going to share some of my story.
So, when I was about 14 I had my first drink. I only ever got buzzed until sixteen. I started to steal the bottles of wine off my parents wine rack while they were sleeping, chug them and replace them with water. This went on for quite a while until my dad had realized what was going on with their wine collection. He just blew it off and went off on us a little bit.
Shortly after this, I had a friend who was 21, a brother of my good friend, who enjoyed drinking with us. He would come to work with me to help out some days and we would stop by a liquor store and get few half gallons of Old Crow or Svedka... whatever it was at the time, and also some dirty thirties. This lead to me getting a mini fridge for my room and just telling my parents it was for soda. They never really checked and when they did they didn't know what to do because I always restocked if they dumped. I was consistently getting hammered by the time I was 17.
I partied a lot, crashed a lot of cars, went to jail 4 times ultimately, had a seizure right before I quit on my rented houses kitchen floor and just a whole lot more you probably don't care to hear. It ws a wild time in my life. I also vomited, a lot. I would drink while vomitting to make the pain stop. It was usually because of withdrawal the next day.
When I turned 19, I was living in a cold garages upper story with just a mattress, a TV, and the houses WiFi. I woke up and felt the withdrawal, it wasn't a hangover. My skin was blue, I couldn't breathe, I was broke. I went out and sold a lot of my old video games and stuff with my friend for booze money. My car was seriously packed full of all of my belongings including about 7 guitars.
I would just take shot after shot after shot, day and night. Wake up, take a few, sleep more. The withdrawal was too bad to face. I have also done a ton of drugs because of alcohol. Heroin, LSD (I enjoy it, I think it can be good for your mind), Ketamine, Exctasy, PCP, Crack, Coke, Meth, daily weed smoker, any opiates, any benzos, blah blah. I never shot up, though. My favorites are Alcohol, LSD and opiates. Benzos rank up there. If this post is triggering, feel free to quit reading.
I would chug out of liquor bottles while driving, hit the bong while driving and ultimately I did get a DUI. Luckily, I never hurt anyone but myself in a vehicle. I rear ended someone once with a cop behind me and he came up to my car and saw the beer bottles laying in the seat beside me and I was like, "go ahead, man... sorry." He walked back to the cop and walked back up to me and said,
"Get outta here, I told her their is no damage."
So, I drove off. I have crashed into a pole and managed to back out and drive off, that night I crashed again. . . there was a winter storm and I wanted to make it to a party... that night I spun off the road into a ditch and the next day we had a tow truck pull my truck out. My dad came and picked me up before any cops got there.
I crashed my brothers truck once trying to chase someone down out of my driveway who stole my car to take a girl home from a small get together we were having. I fell off the side of my driveway and tumbled down the hill (it was a driveway leading down to our house, a long one, with woods on the side and a creek with a stormpipe under it. It was a pretty big hill, about twenty feet down to the creek. I got caught on a tree luckily. The next day my dad took my wheels off my Bravada, the people did return. I took molly and did acid and smashed my car windows out to prove a stupid point. I was in a living hell.
When I moved out on my own things only got worse and I got severely depressed and hid myself in marijuana and alcohol. I lost the house I was renting and started living in motels and extended stay hotels, but I would get kicked out for getting drunk and playing guitar too loud, finding the other partiers, etc... I was too loud. I was always very sick without drugs or alcohol. To the point I wanted to commit suicide and would cut myself.
I have been in an ambulance four times, and hospitalized quite a few. I went to rehab twice, multiple detox centers... some I would leave the next day. I was homeless at one point with my roomate from my sober living home. We relapsed and I backed into the light pole in the houses yard and broke it down. We wound up just roaming town that night, he stole a tent by swapping price tags for a cheap one on an expensive one. About 30 dollars for a 300 dollar tent. We set it up in the woods by a target and camped out a few nights. I would walk in the Target and walk out with beer. (Five finger discount, I never got caught until he did. Yes, I hate that I did these things.) We wound up both going to jail again together, because we took too much Xanax and he tried to steal wine. He tried to run from the police in my car and when we got pulled over, they took my car and impounded it. Never got it back. We wound up getting released the next day and my charges were dropped in court, his were not. He despises me now.
On and off, I've been relapsing. I am 14 months off of alcohol, but not weed or opiates. I try my best to stay away from alcohol so I dont lose the house I am in now. Thank you for reading, that is not the whole story, but this got too long. I've always been addicted to fun and escapism, I used all the OTC drugs, too. Nearly died on many occasions. I thank whatever higher power put us here for keeping me alive. I became a drug addicted lunatic and I am fixing myself now.
If anyone relates, feel free to talk to me about it.
@coricidinpeaches
Hey there!
I am so sorry you had to go through all that. You‘ve clearly experienced a lot of things, lots of bad things, but still you managed to get through everything and to be here today <3 I am really glad you decided to come to 7cups and that you shared your story with us!
I want you to know, the 7cups community is here to support you through all that and that you arent alone <3
Best wishes!
@Hope3729
Thank you so much for the reply, Hope!
I certainly have experienced the negatives of life, but also it didn't come with only negatives. It opened my mind to a view that I never could have imagined and I left the experience with more wisdom than before. It still haunts me daily, although I have learned to accept it. I help other people with addiction issues daily through my social media pages for music and also people I met in rehab. They also help me.
This site seriously is amazing, I really enjoy being able to voice my story and opinions without having to go to an AA, NA, CA, whatever meeting -- and not be judged too heavily.
I also suffer from depression, so you can catch me in the Depression Chat nearly every night when I am through with my day.
I have been close to drinking and the people on here have saved my life. They really may not understand, but drinking will most likely kill me someway, somehow, if I go back. It would lead me straight back to the other drugs I've mention above, also.
Once again, thank you for the reply. I'm glad you decided to show empathy! I believed this post would just fall on the backburner and disappear.
Peaches out
@coricidinpeaches
I'll keep my eye open for you the next time I drop by depression chat. How much of an impact would you say your depression had/has on the amount you drank or used?
@DaveMcGrath
I think my depression was already sort of there as a young kid, but it hadn't started to show until the alcohol messed up my chemicals (even more?)... I say that because drinking used to only be fun, although sickening, fun. The next day was funny.
"Oh! I did that!? That's awesome! Let's go to the gym today!" turned into, "please leave me alone and let me die here in peace or let me get ready to drink this pain away again!"
That switch happened around 19 and from then on my depression without the alcohol led me to very dark places and my consumption rised, because once the levels in my blood started to drop, I started to feel an uneasy feeling that only strengthened with time. I did not want to deal with that, so I drank more liquor. The uneasy feeling got worse and worse and started lasting for days and days... which was me worsening that depression I've had docile since I a child. It was also me building up an alcohol addiction that was the only cure in my mind, even though it was the source of what was making this disease feel so horrible.
It triggered and cured, triggered further, cured, further, further, further... sort of cured... even further.... until it drove me mad completely.
Ultimately, after 19 -- I would say depression had a tremendous impact on how much alcohol I ingested, other drugs included. Even though the depression was triggered and strengthened by the alcohol, the alcohol itself became my only known cure. So, in my mind... the amount I drank was extremely heavily induced by my depression and would not have been that bad if my depression had not gotten out of control. Even though the alcohol was spiraled it out of control to start.
Depression and alcoholism go hand in hand for me. It made me want to die without the alcohol, so I became reckless and did not give a crap how much I ingested, because... "I wanna die sober -- might as well see if I can get drunk enough to feel funny again. Wow, I drank a whole half gallon today? Who cares...?"
That's the general gist of it.. hope it kinda made sense.
@coricidinpeaches
You'd think it would be counter-intuitive to drink excessively or do drugs when so many of them increase depression. Yet... so many of us do just that.
I'll keep an eye out for you, hang in there.
@coricidinpeaches I definitely related to the part where you said you were addicted to fun and escapism. That's the same reason I had a big problem with OTC drugs. It's great that you're 14 months sober with alcohol! Best of luck, take care of yourself.
@coricidinpeaches
thank you so much for sharing your story with us. You have really been through so much. I respect you for putting it all out there and being hoenst about where you are now in your journey. I am glad you are part of our community, there is a place for you here. You are so strong and I hope you continue your patth to recovery and wellness. Sending you a big 7 Cups hug!
I'm also addicted to escapism. I get high every night. And I've always drank on weekends, but in December I started drinking every night. I stopped for a couple days in January, and the beginning of March I stopped for about 5 days, started again, and I haven't drank now for almost 2 weeks (still get high every day, but I feel that's better than alcohol. I can't stop at just one or two drinks. I drink until I pass out.) I don't feel like I'm an addict, but I'm scared if I go back to drinking everyday I will be. I'm not exactly sure why I shared all this..I just see a lot of me in the teenage you.
@DakotahWasHere
Well, I'm glad you decided to comment! Congratulations on 2 weeks -- I know how much that can suck! Even two days is amazing! The physical part really sucks, but the mental aspect you really need to try and stay on top off... you know, though.
I also smoke daily. I had not taken a break for over a year, but now I am on day 7 of a T-Break. I feel like that may help me enjoy it more. I am not against weed -- at all. I do think it can be misused and I have a tendency to do that with nearly anything. Luckily, it's just not bad in my opinion. I had insomnia and anxiety for a few days after starting the tolerance break. . . but it's fine now.
I felt the same way when I shared, I usually always do... Thank you for sharing, though.
@coricidinpeaches I hate sharing. I always feel awkward and like I'm adding nothing of importance to the forum 😬😂